Environment ministers from developed and developing countries said Friday that they should make more efforts to reduce and recycle waste to conserve natural resources and tackle environmental pollution.

At a two-day international conference on recycling that opened in Tokyo the same day, 165 ministers and officials from 20 countries and international organizations discussed how to promote the "three Rs" -- reduction, reuse and recycling -- to improve economic development and environmental protection at both local and global levels.

The conference was organized based on Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's proposal at the Group of Eight Summit, held in the United States last June at Sea Island, Georgia.